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RE: [beemonitoring] roads and bees

Gidi- I agree with much of what Harold has written about roads and bees. Alfalfa seed growers who pollinate using the native ground-nesting Nomia melanderi are

Message 1 of 6
, May 4, 2009

Gidi- I agree with much of what Harold has written about
roads and bees. Alfalfa seed growers who pollinate using the native
ground-nesting Nomia melanderi are concerned enough with traffic kills of their
bees nesting near roads that they have put speed signs around their valley.

Harold wrote ... This is definitely true, in both temperate and tropical areas; lots of bees and wasps like bare well-packed soil for nest sites. Unpaved dirt

Message 2 of 6
, May 4, 2009

Harold wrote

>As to the 'Narrow'; rarely used or 'dirt roads' = They can be
>excellent nesting sites.

This is definitely true, in both temperate and tropical areas; lots
of bees and wasps like bare well-packed soil for nest sites. Unpaved
dirt roads are generally great for bees. But gravel roads are awful.
Surprisingly, asphalt roads can be a positive influence: in the local
deserts, the extra moisture resulting from road-surface spillover
creates a narrow zone of plants that are greener and more often in
bloom than those even a meter from the road edge. The actual
floristic composition of this narrow zone can be dramatically
different from all of the surrounding habitat - it's always
surprising to see how big a difference that little extra moisture can
make.

I ve seen road-killed bumble bees not infrequently. Some on my windshield, some on the road. David Inouye

Message 3 of 6
, May 4, 2009

I've seen road-killed bumble bees not infrequently. Some on my
windshield, some on the road.

David Inouye

At 12:49 PM 5/4/2009, you wrote:

>Hello everyone. I am looking for information on the effects of roads
>on bee movement. Exhaustive searches in "Google Scholar" and "Web of
>Science" yielded only one relevant article (and a few dealing with
>beetles rather than bees). The rumor says that roads tend to form a
>barrier to bee movement. Is this true? Is it a complete or only
>partial barrier? Are all bee taxa similarly affected? Is the effect
>caused by the asphalt cover, the rapid movement of vehicles, the
>chemicals emitted by the vehicles, etc.? Would a narrow road, rarely
>driven through and surrounded by natural vegetation, cause the same
>effect as a busy highway (I guess not...)?
>
>I would appreciate if you could recommend any relevant literature
>and/or share your own experience and knowledge.
>
>Thank you in advance,
>
>Gidi Pisanty.

Sarina Jepsen

Hi Gidi, Jennifer Hopwood published a paper last year that may interest you. She looked at bee diversity in restored grasslands on road edges and found that

Message 4 of 6
, May 5, 2009

Hi Gidi,
Jennifer Hopwood published a paper last year that may interest you. She
looked at bee diversity in restored grasslands on road edges and found
that "Traffic and width of roadside did not significantly influence
bees,
suggesting that even relatively narrow verges near heavy traffic could
provide valuable habitat to bees."

Here is the abstract:
Marginal habitats such as hedgerows or roadsides become especially
important for the conservation of biodiversity in highly modified
landscapes. With concerns of a global pollination crisis, there is a
need for improving pollinator habitat. Roadsides restored to native
prairie vegetation may provide valuable habitat to bees, the most
important group of pollinators. Such roadsides support a variety of
pollen and nectar sources and unlike agricultural fields, are unplowed,
and therefore can provide potential nesting sites for groundnesting
bees. To examine potential effects of roadside restoration, bee
communities were sampled via aerial netting and pan trapping along
roadside prairie restorations as well as roadsides dominated by
non-native plants. Management of roadside vegetation via the planting
of native species profoundly affected bee communities. Restored
roadsides supported significantly greater bee abundances as well as
higher species richness compared to weedy roadsides. Floral species
richness, floral abundance, and percentage of bare ground were the
factors that led to greater bee abundance and bee species richness
along restored roadsides. Traffic and width of roadside did not
significantly influence bees, suggesting that even relatively narrow
verges near heavy traffic could provide valuable habitat to bees.
Restored and weedy roadside bee communities were similar to the prairie
remnant, but the prairie remnant was more similar in bee richness and
abundance to restored roadsides. Restoring additional roadsides to
native vegetation could benefit pollinator conservation efforts by
improving habitat on the millions of acres of land devoted to roadsides
worldwide, land that is already set aside from further development.

Also, my coworker (Matthew Shepherd) said that Patty Cramer with the
USGS Utah Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit has been
collecting information on how roads impact wildlife:www.wildlifeandroads.org

The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit
organization that protects wildlife through the
conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.
To join the Society, make a contribution, or read
about our work, please visit www.xerces.org

Hello everyone. I am looking for information on the effects of
roads on bee movement. Exhaustive searches in "Google Scholar" and "Web
of Science" yielded only one relevant article (and a few dealing with
beetles rather than bees). The rumor says that roads tend to form a
barrier to bee movement. Is this true? Is it a complete or only partial
barrier? Are all bee taxa similarly affected? Is the effect caused by
the asphalt cover, the rapid movement of vehicles, the chemicals
emitted by the vehicles, etc.? Would a narrow road, rarely driven
through and surrounded by natural vegetation, cause the same effect as
a busy highway (I guess not...)?

I would appreciate if you could recommend any relevant literature
and/or share your own experience and knowledge.